I believe they make three delivery attempts (3 consecutive business days), and if at that point they have been unable to meet someone at the house to collect the funds, they'll hold it at the depot. If it sits at the depot without being picked up for too long they will send it back to the company that shipped the package to you.

Yeh these additional costs UPS are throwing onto these things is really quite the joke.
3D printing itself is expensive enough at the moment, and I find it somewhat dishonest on the part of the shipping company to slam you with further fees as soon as the package arrives. If anything, there should be a way to calculate an approximation of the additional fee, given the weight of the package and location its being shipped to.

Coming from Australia, Ive never actually had these additional fees (yet), but it is aggravating to see it happening to others, and I worry about my potential future overseas customers when I start selling 3D prints from my own shop......

Coming from Australia, Ive never actually had these additional fees (yet), but it is aggravating to see it happening to others, and I worry about my potential future overseas customers when I start selling 3D prints from my own shop......

Yes, I've had many gripes here about UPS and have had to severely cut back my orders... For example I was once charged $14 at the door by UPS for a $7 WSF model! I've seen on the forums here that Australians don't get charged anything on orders less than $1000 so you can count yourself lucky!

I really hope Shapeways can come up with another shipping option soon. When I order from other companies in the States I always ask if they will ship by mail even if they don't state it. Most will oblige but if they say they only use UPS I tell them they just lost a customer and the reason why.